Recent Development of the Russian Judiciary System

Abstract

In 2020, the current federal targeted program for the development of the judicial system will expire. It is therefore necessary to sum up preliminary results and consider the activities of the next set of programs for the judicial sector. For the past 18 years, the Russian government has not made public the results of these programs, or discussed findings with the legal community. These programs are developed behind closed doors without any consideration given to the academic community, to public opinion or to the concept of sustainable development: the rule of law and access to court. This academic article aims at identifying ongoing issues in the Russian judicial system and legal proceedings by defining and understanding the term “Development” and to provide a comparison and analysis of the Russian Federation federal targeted programs as well as the concept of sustainable development: the principles of strategic planning and the concept of a unified standard for the provision of public services by the government. An analysis of Russian legislation, and specifically legislation related to the Russian judicial system, leads to the conclusion that there lacks a true understanding of the term “Development,” and therefore the government can refer to nearly anything as being “development,” when in reality it is not. Due to this lack of recognition of the problems within the Russian judiciary system, these issues will likely not be addressed in the next federal target program for the development of the judicial system. With this in mind, the author attempts to recommend several proposals which may be helpful in the creation of the new program for the development of the judicial system which will be in effect until 2030.